MINNEAPOLIS - Jose Altuve was the second baseman and Salvador Perez the catcher a decade ago when they played for opposing teams back home in Venezuela. Tuesday's All-Star Game counts as the second Midsummer Classic selection for both 24-year-olds but the first they'll share.

Altuve, who is from Maracay, has played basketball with Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera in the offseason. Altuve knows another Venezuelan All-Star, American League starting pitcher Felix Hernandez, a little bit, too. Seeing Derek Jeter, meanwhile, is weighty for anyone in Minnesota this week because it's the last All-Star Game for "The Captain." He and Altuve took a picture together Monday.

But for Altuve, there's no greater connection to this game than Perez, the Royals catcher from Valencia who, like Altuve, deserves to be a household name. Perez is the best catcher in the AL, with a .283 average and 11 home runs complementing arguably the best defensive tool set in either league.

"I know Salvador better than anybody in this room," Altuve said Monday in a ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where hundreds of media members were buzzing among players. "We were maybe 13, 14 years old. He's been always a good friend of mine."

"I've known Altuve for - I think the day we're born," Perez said, pausing to think.

Altuve said Monday that despite his stature, he always believed in himself. He never doubted he'd make it this far, to a second All-Star selection before he turns 25, and credited his family's support for fostering that self-assurance.

From Perez's vantage point, everything about Altuve has been a constant since they were kids.

"The same guy, the same personality, the same everything," Perez said.

Except for being quite so fit. Altuve joked that he doesn't eat as many hamburgers as he used to.

In a season in which the slimmed-down speedster could make a run at a batting title - Altuve's .335 average trails only Adrian Beltre's .337 in the AL - one detail will be just like the old days on Tuesday.

Perez will be a starter, while Altuve waits on the bench, just as it used to be. Robinson Cano gets the nod for the AL at second.

"We went to play against other countries," Altuve said of his days playing with Perez. "I wasn't the starter. I was on the bench, but anyway, I was happy."

So who was playing ahead of him?

"One guy," Altuve said. "He's not playing anymore."

Early extensions

Perez and Altuve made their major league debuts within less than a month of each other: Altuve on July 20, 2011, and Perez on Aug. 10. Both quickly proved excellent, and in an era when young, cost-controlled players are essential assets, their teams quickly moved to lock them up.

Both players were on board.

Their base salaries this season are disproportionate to their performance and huge bargains for their teams. Altuve makes $1.25 million in 2014, while Perez makes $1.5 million. Both deals could run through the 2019 season.

They made individual decisions, but their choices echo each other and speak to one of the questions for young players of whether to quickly seek financial security or gamble on a bigger payday down the road.

Perez agreed first, taking a five-year deal worth a guaranteed $7 million in spring training of 2012, with barely any big league experience. Club options for 2017-19 could bring the value of the deal up to $21.75 million, with the potential for a few million more in incentives (All-Star selections help).

Altuve didn't get his deal done until July 2013. The Astros played a two-game series in general manager Jeff Luhnow's old city, St. Louis, on July 9-10. The deal was announced July 13.

Omelettes at the St. Louis Westin, with only the player and GM in attendance, helped seal it.

"He and I met for breakfast and worked through all the outstanding issues," Luhnow said. "Did the whole thing in Spanish. … This was after it had been … we'd gone back and forth a little bit. We were both there in St. Louis and decided to get together and just see where we would figure it out. And we figured it all out there."

While some details had been figured out between the Astros and Altuve's representatives prior to that meeting, there were loose ends.

"Sort of," Luhnow said when asked if there was a framework. "It was a working breakfast. I expensed that."

Altuve signed for four years and $12.5 million guaranteed, with the potential to make $25 million in all with club options for 2018 and 2019. Notably, Altuve switched agents before doing so, leaving Scott Boras' firm for Octagon in the months before the deal was ratified.

"It was one of those situations where the player was motivated and he approached us and we started to put together a couple of different ideas," Luhnow said. "I can't remember exactly who talked to who first. But it was clear from the beginning that he was interested. And you know, he used to have Boras Corp. represent him. He switched agencies."

On Monday, Boras was clear: He would have told Altuve not to accept such a deal.

"Look, if you think I would have advised - our advice to, when we represented Altuve, was we told him what kind of player he was going to be," Boras said. "And the fact that he's a multiple All-Star, whatever, that was no surprise to us. We always tell players, look, you're going to dictate what you want to do.

"If he would have asked me, 'Would you have signed that contract?' … Just like I would have told him before, that's not what All-Star players get paid. But players have different reasons for signing contracts and doing things, and clubs have very right reasons on their part for offering such things."

Altuve's agents at Octagon did not immediately return calls to the Chronicle.

Everybody's pleased

The team, rightfully, is thrilled with the deal.

"Very happy," Luhnow said. "He's an unbelievable player."

And in the case of Perez and Altuve, there seems to be happiness, too.

"Where we're coming from, you know, it's hard," Perez said of Venezuela. "It's hard because, you know … (we don't have the best) house in Venezuela. My mom (doesn't have a) really good job, so when they give you opportunity for your life to be safe, to try to move here (to the United States), I think you look around … and say you have to do it. You have to keep your family safe.

"Try to (make) a better life for my family, that's why," Perez continued. "Because to me, it's not that hard, because I had just two months in the big leagues when they give me that money, when they tried to give me that money. So I don't have to wait. I just say yes."

Perez said he had no regrets. Altuve, who has his brother and wife at the All-Star Game, didn't elaborate as much. But he said he "absolutely" took the deal because of the environment he comes from.

"Now you can help your family," Altuve said. "You know, you're giving a better life for them."

He and Perez could perhaps be richer, but what they cared about Monday was that they were in Minnesota together.

"Especially when I see those pictures of me when I was in Little League and I saw him next to me," Altuve said of how special sharing this stage with Perez is. "And now we're here as All-Stars."

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